HighRollers: Lightfall/Episode 47
"Dwarven Dungeon Delving!" is the fourty-seventh episode of the Lightfall campaign for High Rollers D&D. It was broadcast live on the Yogscast Twitch channel on May 14, 2017. With Matthew Toffolo absent for this episode, Tom Hazell joins as a special guest. In this episode, our heroes discover an ancient dwarven asylum, the place where Tanya is said to be. They also rescue an ex-Broken Sky agent, who leads them to a vault of ancient treasures. Campaign Summary Discovery of the Past Recovering from a day full of battle with a night's rest, Cassandra, Grunka, Reynard and the adventurers (Cam, Elora and Jiǔtóu) are now on a mission to free the rest of Grunka's regiment. The only information they have is that they are enslaved by the Broken Sky to clear traps of a dig site somewhere deeper within the mines. After finding the secret passageway mentioned by Vesuvias the day before, the group walk through the long tunnel and discover a freshly built scaffolding by a cleared cave-in. After a turn, an illuminated room can be seen at the end of the tunnel. Part way the the room, a robed dwarven skeleton is seen by an opened door with a runic writings on the wall of a 1000 years old dwarven language. Reynard translates the writings and basically informs the rest that they are about to enter Kala'Castor , which they later find out that it is an ancient dwarven asylum. The writings also warns of a trap, which they later figured that the dwarf must have been a victim of. However, they could not figure out how or why he is killed. Moving on, they enter the room at the end of the tunnel. The room is full of alchemy devices though lots of it are broken. Searching a desk, Jiǔtóu finds an ancient dwarven journal and gives it to Reynard to translate the texts. The journal, written by Stormbrew Guildstone , describes how his wife had a breakthrough in golem-making as well as healing the "sick" patients with magic to get rid of excess energy. On one of the last entry before the journal abruptly ends, the "Prince" is pleased with the vault and stored three items in it. Whom to Trust? In this room are two doors. One is sealed with various locking mechanisms that no one could unlock. The other is a closed door but with signs of fresh movements in and out of this doorway. Jiǔtóu takes a peek at the peephole and sees two Broken Sky agents beating up a red-skinned tiefling. Informing the rest of the predicament happening outside, they launch a surprise attack on the Broken Sky agents, beheading the half-orc agent and restraining the halfling. Jiǔtóu and Reynard revives the barely alive tiefling with a Potion of Greater Healing, although the halfling warns them not to trust him as he betrayed the Broken Sky. The tiefling, after feeling better, takes a smoke break and introduced himself as Saito, a treasure hunter, shared his side of the story of why he joined the Broken Sky and informs them of his intention to kill two birds with one stone by breaking into the vault and then leave the Broken Sky after discovering that the organisation is much worse than Korak the Champion whom he dislikes. When Cam voices out that both Saito and the halfling could complicate their mission, Saito offers to split the stolen goods from the vault. He also shares that the 5th Regiment are used as guinea pigs to check for traps and purposely activate them so the agents will not be harmed. On the other hand, the surrender halfling agent could not offer anything other than her surrender; Cassandra wants her alive for further questioning back in Talis'Val. The halfling did inform the group that there are no patrols as the Broken Sky are focusing their effort in finding a journal. When she also remarks of how these outlying Dawn Republic towns are underfunded that the Broken Sky can simply take over, Cassandra knocks her unconscious and ties her up. To prevent her tattoo from activating, Jiǔtóu reluctantly scars it with Elemental Attunement, then heals it up. Two Challenges As Grunka takes a rest, Saito leads the group to where the vault is. Entering a Shrine of Moradin, Saito flicks a switch to reveal a secret passageway into the Guardian Chamber, which Saito later explains that this chamber is to test if you are fit to enter the vault. At the centre of the slight misty smooth-cut stone room, with tendrils of mithril all over the walls and ceiling, is a large dais with a mithril scale sitting on it. Its left holds a gold dish filled with feathers. Its right holds an empty onyx dish. On the dais are two tablets. The left one is shattered but the right tablet reads out a spell that seems to summon quasits. Reynard reads the Dwarvish inscription on the scale, which says "The duty of wizards is the balance of the planes." From this, Saito believes that the plates needs to balance the negative plane beings, quasits in this case, with something from the positive plane. As both Cam and Cassandra have positive plane connections and Jiǔtóu and Saito have negative plane connections, the four take their time to balance the scale out, eventually unlocking another passageway. The passageway leads into an antechamber with a gynosphinx sleeping at the centre of the room. As the group stealthily moves forward with Jiǔtóu and Reynard taking the lead, Jiǔtóu unexpectedly walks to the centre of the room, causing the gynosphinx to wake up. The gynosphinx then quizzes her with a time-limit riddle, in which Jiǔtóu quickly solves. With that, the gynosphinx is now freed from her guarding duty and allows the group to go to the vault. She also states that no one has come here for a thousand years. With its truesight, the gynosphinx shares with the group that it can see dwarves within the mines, including Ethan who lives or dies in certain timelines. She also sees Tanya seeking a tome for a cloud giant. Regarding Saito, the gynosphinx can see his sadden, tortured soul, yet a freed one. The Vault Cassandra stays behind to guard the unconscious halfling, while the rest enter the vault. Inside it are piles of gold, a bookshelf of scrolls, several potions and three unique items: a white fur leather belt, a pair of red and blue marbles and a black shortsword with a reptilian grip. The group simply strip the vault clean. As it happens, Jiǔtóu learns more of Saito's past: he was enslaved in his homeland Bresseras for 26 years and made his escape after the death of his wife and son, both are also slaves, and was nearly killed by a guard during his escape. A human named Anna saved him and he since taken up thievery, intending to live a new life. This is also the reason why he wants to run away and live a quiet life after he secure his loot from the vault. Asking the gynosphinx of what the three items are, Cam takes the pair of Ioun Stones of Agility and Insight, Elora takes the Ivor'Skald (Belt of Frost Giant Strength) and Jiǔtóu takes the dragon-slaying shortsword. Meanwhile, Reynard grabs the 5 scrolls (Dimension Door, Dispell Magic, Fireball (Level 5), Misty Step and Wall of Force) and 2 potions (Acid Resistance and Invisibility). As part of the agreement, Saito takes all the gold worth 5000 gold pieces. Cam and Jiǔtóu later swap their respective items. With the gynosphinx now gone and leaving the unconscious halfling behind in the now empty vault, Saito unwillingly leads the way out. They come across a junction: one leads to the surface, the other leads to where Tanya and the 5th Regiment are. The group then takes a short rest after Grunka reunites with them. During the rest, Saito intends to leave right away but decide to rest with them given his recent injuries from the two Broken Sky agents, as well as a hint of protectiveness for Jiǔtóu given her small physical size, which reminds him of his son. Jiǔtóu then gives her shortsword to him that she never used since leaving Greybell months ago. During their short rest, Can, Elora and Jiǔtóu each receives a vision linked to the items they wear, of its past. Waking up from it, Cam excitedly shares his dream of how he killed a dragon. As for Elora, the Belt made her feel stronger and less dependent on males, so she keeps a distance from Cam. Featured Characters The Adventurers * Cam Buckland * Elora Galanodel * Jiutou Zhiji Jing New Appeared * Saito, male tiefling, ex-Broken Sky agent * Gynosphinx * Unnamed male half-orc, Broken Sky agent * Unnamed female halfing, Broken Sky agent Mentioned * Members of Kala'Kastor * Saito's wife * Saito's son Returning Appeared * Cassandra Wyndale * Grunka Spiritfang * Reynard Ferehorn Mentioned * Bahamut * Broken Sky ** Fellania ** Gregor ** Tanya * Ethan * Korak the Champion * Talis'Val 5th Regiment * Dragonborns of Bresseras * Hill dwarves * Tieflings of Bresseras Notable Moments Trivia References